LUCKY DOG Once abandoned and terrified, Chance has been brought back to health and is available for adoption

Wednesday

Mar 5, 2014 at 10:38 PMMar 5, 2014 at 10:38 PM

By Jeff Foxjeff.fox@examiner.net

Chance is going to be OK. He needs a home, but he’s in a lot better place than he was a week ago.

“What is so amazing about animals is their resilience – the resilience of their hearts, the resilience of what they can go through,” said Courtney Thomas, president and CEO of the Great Plains chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which runs the Regional Animal Shelter in Independence.

One local dog has been through a lot.

Late last Friday afternoon, an Independence Power and Light crew went to a duplex on Geronimo, in unincorporated Jackson County, where power had been turned off. Those living there had left two months earlier.

The crew found a dog inside, growling and snarling. They summoned a sheriff’s deputy. The dog was wary and tried to hide behind a box.

“He was absolutely terrified,” Thomas said.

The home was a mess. The previous residents had left several bags of dog food, though the dog had gotten very thin. A couple of rooms were soiled with urine and feces. He had torn through the Sheetrock and insulation of one wall to try to get out.

The authorities got him out of the house and turned him over to the Regional Animal Shelter in Independence, where he’s gotten food, medical attention and TLC. He got his shots last Saturday, and once he’s neutered – probably today – he can be adopted.

“He’s doing great now,” Thomas said.

She said the dog is about 2 years old, a hound-shepherd mix.

“He’s super sweet, very handsome,” she said.

Thomas said an effort should be made to follow up with the previous owners.

“Abandonment (of an animal) is a chargeable offense,” she said.

At the shelter, they settled on a new name for the dog – Chance.

“We’ve given him a new chance. ... And we want people to take a chance on him,” Thomas said.